Brace for $3.75 gas
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AE/20071227/NEWS01/712270334/
Gasoline could cost an average of $3.75 a gallon nationwide in the next four months, pushing the price in California up and over the $4 mark, energy analysts predicted Wednesday.
They said several factors were pointing toward a nightmarish spring for motorists, including persistently strong crude oil prices and the fact that the traditional December drop in pump prices did not materialize.
Americans will start 2008 paying about 65 cents more than they did last year, according to the forecasts, and may well see self-serve regular going for $3.50-$3.75 a gallon by April.
In California - where the price this year has run as high as 50 cents a gallon more than the national average - $4 gasoline "will no longer be considered a rogue number," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. "It will list for that much in a lot of places."
The average price of a gallon dipped 1.8 cents to $2.980 nationwide on Monday and fell 2.4 cents to $3.261 in California, the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations found.
Both numbers were lower than a week ago - but much higher than a year ago. Back then, the national average was $2.341 and the California average was $2.607.
The price of crude oil futures Wednesday rose $1.54 to $95.97 a barrel for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Early today, oil prices for light, sweet crude for February delivery rose to $96.08 a barrel in Asian electronic trading.
Traders braced for what was expected to be the sixth straight decline in U.S. crude stockpiles in the report today to be released by the Energy Department.
The Energy Department said oil could average $85 a barrel in 2008, up from $72 this year.
Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, said it was "unprecedented having prices this high at the end of the year."
Motorists found the predictions infuriating.
"It's absurd, ridiculous," said Eric Mills, 40, a special event coordinator for the entertainment industry as he filled up for $3.399 a gasoline at a downtown Los Angeles Shell station. "Every year, I hear about fuel cells and other promising alternative fuel possibilities and every year I'm still putting gasoline in my car."
Jessica Bunge, a 25-year-old designer about to unveil her first line of clothes, said changes would be in order if gasoline reached $4 a gallon and stayed there.
"We'd get rid of one of our cars, and my boyfriend would take the subway to work," Bunge said. "I already work at home. We all need to find new routines to deal with these prices."
By Ronald D. White
Los Angeles Times
Gasoline could cost an average of $3.75 a gallon nationwide in the next four months, pushing the price in California up and over the $4 mark, energy analysts predicted Wednesday.
They said several factors were pointing toward a nightmarish spring for motorists, including persistently strong crude oil prices and the fact that the traditional December drop in pump prices did not materialize.
Americans will start 2008 paying about 65 cents more than they did last year, according to the forecasts, and may well see self-serve regular going for $3.50-$3.75 a gallon by April.
In California - where the price this year has run as high as 50 cents a gallon more than the national average - $4 gasoline "will no longer be considered a rogue number," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. "It will list for that much in a lot of places."
The average price of a gallon dipped 1.8 cents to $2.980 nationwide on Monday and fell 2.4 cents to $3.261 in California, the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations found.
Both numbers were lower than a week ago - but much higher than a year ago. Back then, the national average was $2.341 and the California average was $2.607.
The price of crude oil futures Wednesday rose $1.54 to $95.97 a barrel for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Early today, oil prices for light, sweet crude for February delivery rose to $96.08 a barrel in Asian electronic trading.
Traders braced for what was expected to be the sixth straight decline in U.S. crude stockpiles in the report today to be released by the Energy Department.
The Energy Department said oil could average $85 a barrel in 2008, up from $72 this year.
Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California, said it was "unprecedented having prices this high at the end of the year."
Motorists found the predictions infuriating.
"It's absurd, ridiculous," said Eric Mills, 40, a special event coordinator for the entertainment industry as he filled up for $3.399 a gasoline at a downtown Los Angeles Shell station. "Every year, I hear about fuel cells and other promising alternative fuel possibilities and every year I'm still putting gasoline in my car."
Jessica Bunge, a 25-year-old designer about to unveil her first line of clothes, said changes would be in order if gasoline reached $4 a gallon and stayed there.
"We'd get rid of one of our cars, and my boyfriend would take the subway to work," Bunge said. "I already work at home. We all need to find new routines to deal with these prices."
By Ronald D. White
Los Angeles Times
0
-
$3.75...ain't bad.
I've been paying that for years over here thanks to Shell and Mobil.[V]0 -
Yay [:D][:0][V] 0 -
Keeps poor people off the roads. [}:)] 0 -
Paid that last summer; what's the big deal?
I'm bettin' the NRA's behind it!0 -
0 -
one of Art Bells' guests said it would be up to $106 a barrel by the end of the year. 0 -
Was that the guest with three eyes, or the one with the tail ??
Doug0 -
quote:Originally posted by Doug Wilson
Was that the guest with three eyes, or the one with the tail ??
Doug
No, I think it was the one with two rows of teeth.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
8 comments